I'm an IT Pro with an MSP with 30+ years of support experience. I have always used these keys on my customer computers to upgrade to the Pro version when they purchased a Home Edition computer without my input, and we needed to upgrade to Pro for the security and networking capabilities. There have been occasions where I have found consumer-grade computers, such as Acer and others, where the manufacturer's operating system image may be flawed for the Microsoft process to work. If you encounter this, try the following. It has worked for all of my trouble PCs.

If you ever are trying to upgrade a Windows 11 Home edition to Windows 11 Pro, and the upgrade code you attempt to enter into Windows doesn’t seem to be working, climbing to 10%, then 100%, with an error message stating that the upgrade could not be completed at the present time, try again later, or go to the Microsoft store and purchase a legitimate upgrade code, the problem may be the Windows version installed has a bad image.

YOU MUST HAVE A GOOD INTERNET CONNECTION FOR THIS TO WORK.

To fix (versions 22H2, 23H2), do the following and retry the code:

1 – Right-Click the Start button and select Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin)

2 – Enter "SFC /SCANNOW" (without the quotes)

3 – Enter "DISM /ONLINE /CLEANUP-IMAGE /STARTCOMPONENTCLEANUP" (without the quotes)

4 – Enter "DISM /ONLINE /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RESTOREHEALTH" (without the quotes)

What do these entries do?

Step 2 tells Windows to check the current image for issues.

Step 3 tells Windows to go online and download fresh copies of the Windows image components

Step 4 tells Windows to replace the existing components with the newly downloaded version.

Restart and try the upgrade code again. I have had to do it more than one time on occasion to get it to work, probably because the fresh download had an interruption that I didn't see.

I am 78 year old retired software engineer, who loves Linux. Been stuck on a laptop with a small hard drive, without enough room to have a dual boot system. Stuck writing a book using Word, that is now close to being finished. I wanted Linux back, and I still wanted to keep Windows.

I bought a bare bone MINISFORUM Venus Series UM790 Pro Mini PC , added Crucial RAM 96GB Kit (2x48GB) DDR5 5600MT/s (or 5200MT/s or 4800MT/s) Laptop Memory, a fanxiang S880 4TB NVMe SSD, and a fanxiang S880 2TB NVMe SSD, for a really fast and cool running 5 inch by 5 inch by 2 inch computer. More computer power than an old tower, that will drive two big 32 inch 4 k monitors, and save electricity too.

I thought about getting a product key cheap from the internet, but felt that is a bit unethical. I did not want to pay $199 from Microsoft but felt that $153.42 from Amazon was within my budget. I want Microsoft to get some money to keep protecting Windows 11 from hackers. so I downloaded Windows 11 Home, onto a 64 G jump drive, and installed an unactivated Windows 11 home system. I ran it for a week, making sure that everything worked while I still could return any hardware that broke. Everything worked just find. But I also went to youtube.com and learned about windows 11 Pro, with it's sandbox container. That looked interesting so I decided to upgrade from Home to Pro. Again, youtube helped me do that without downloading anything new, just adding a generic product key with my router turned off, and rebooting my system.

The final step was opening the Windows 11 Pro Disk I received from Amazon, After reading some of the reviews, I mistakenly thought it was under the red tape holding the envelope together. I was very careful, using only my finger nails. but nothing at all was found. Instead, the product key is inside on a special sticker. Using only a dull fingernail I carefully scratched off a film covering the product code. The print is very very small. I needed a flashlight and a magnifying glass. I would think in this modern time, a cell phone could be used to do all the needed security layers. But this is to let people know, to have a magnifying glass handy, and do not scratch too hard. Once I entered the 25 digits, it activated in about 10 seconds. All is well, and I am happy to not have to do that too often.

I have a love hate going with Microsoft, but they keep coming back to the marketplace, saying in business, and coming up with new things for all us users. When I was 20, I would avoid their products at all costs, but now with old age helping me to mellow out. I think I can be friends with Microsoft. Peace brother.

I required this product because I changed the motherboard and cpu in my desktop PC. Apparently my previous Win 10 digital licence was tied to the old hardware so I’m required to buy this product which includes a “Perpetual Licence” key. It was a “clean install” so there are no other pre-requisites. Installation was quick, although I had to separately search the intel website to find the AX211 WIFi driver not included on the USB, then hit cntrl-F10 to run the install file from a command prompt midway through installation. This procedure was detailed on the Win 11 help link - at least they are trying to help. I’m a little disappointed that MS try to upsell so many subscription services as part of the install. The “OneDrive” feature captures all users person data for online storage, but there is zero mention of any risks or liability if the data security will ever be compromised. OneDrive can be disabled for local storage only if you dig into OneDrive settings menu. MS seem more interested in selling extra online storage space than explaining how it works. That feature should be “opt-in” only after accepting a disclaimer if you ask me.

If below instructions does not work then, error has to be with your pc. People have stated that it has ads and other complains. One this is not true for another if you are not sure then just download a ISO of windows 10 Home and then follow the steps below just like you would with the CD that can with the purchase.

Follow Along if You Have Trouble Upgrading to Windows 11 Pro
If you need to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro and do not have a digital code, follow these steps. Note that a generic code must be used first to change Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro.

Press the Windows key and R at the same time. This will open the Run window.
Type: slui.exe 4 and press Enter.
Select your country (e.g., United States).
Call and provide your installation ID. This will speed up the process.
While disconnected from the internet, click on "Enter confirmation ID."
Enter the generic code below. After you restart your computer, it will take a minute to update.
Go to the normal activation window for Windows 11.
Type: slui.exe 3 (note: it is slui.exe 3 this time, not slui.exe 4).
Ensure you are not connected to the internet during this process.

Windows 11 Product Generic Code

RTM Generic Key (Retail): VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
After entering the product code, the computer will restart. You can then confirm that the operating system is Windows 11 Pro.

Since the generic code is not genuine, you will still need to register Windows 11 Pro with an official code that you have purchased.